1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the automation of grading and sticking vegetative cuttings and, more particularly, to a container for supporting unrooted cuttings immediately after harvest, through cold storage and which allows for automatic loading by a grading/sticking machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Vegetative propagation of floricultural products is currently a labor-intensive process. Labor costs are especially high in the procedures that harvest cuttings from mother plants, grade them to meet market standards, insert (stick) them in a suitable rooting media and, several weeks later, pack the finished product. Grading and sticking, in particular, are tedious and repetitive tasks, yet they require manual dexterity and rapid, precise visual distinction. All of this is currently handled manually.
Manual vegetative propagation involves several steps. The vegetative cuttings are harvested weekly from greenhouse-nurtured mother plants. They are cut to length and cleaned as they are harvested, then cooled and hydrated and shipped if necessary to the site where they will be rooted. Next, they are carried to a staging area where they are hand-classified into grades, typically three (3) based on several criteria that tend to predict characteristics of the mature cutting. The cuttings are then stuck in trays containing a rooting medium and grown in a greenhouse for several weeks. Finally, the rooted cuttings are packaged and shipped to the customer.
Certain floricultural products present particular problems during shipping. For example, most hydration of geraniums is critical to quality shipping, however, water on the leaves of geraniums is detrimental because of the discoloration (blackening) of the leaves which results from the confinement of the plants in the shipping containers.
It is an object of my invention to develop a production quality computer based vision system that would grade vegetative geranium cuttings in accordance with established standards. The criterion for success is performance that equals or exceeds the speed and accuracy of a human operator.
It is further an object to design an automated work cell to perform all functions in the grading and sticking of cuttings and develop machinery to automate the sticking process.
It is further an object of my invention to provide an accumulator which provides for the singulation of plant cuttings making automated material handling possible.
It is also an object of my invention to provide basal and vascular system hydration to improve shipping and overall increased performance.